The news came down this week regarding how the NHL will proceed regarding expansion when it comes to Las Vegas. While the white smoke has yet to be released, all signs point to hockey coming to southern Nevada. While early reports have been good for another team in the American Southwest, for Quebec City, the silence is deafening.
Las Vegas and Quebec City Anxiously Await NHL Expansion Decision
Vegas at the Doorstep
Last week The Sin Bin broke the story that the NHL formally recommended to its owners that they had approved Las Vegas for expansion.
“Our sources in Las Vegas with extensive knowledge of the organization and the expansion process have confirmed the Executive Committee formulated a positive recommendation for expansion to Las Vegas and the official announcement will come on June 22nd prior to the NHL Awards ceremony,” reported Ken Boehlke of SinBin.Vegas
In a couple of weeks, Las Vegas will have their first professional sports franchise. That is a huge deal for the city of Las Vegas, the state of Nevada and it’s people. Many die-hard sports fans reside in Las Vegas, and Nevada, in general, will now have a team to call their own. The strong fan base, the new T-Mobile Arena, and a highly motivated owner in Bill Foley should give the Las Vegas franchise every chance for success right out of the gate.
Quebec City Nervously Waits
Meanwhile, Quebec City nervously awaits the announcement on its own expansion prospects. While nothing is official even the chairperson of Quebecor, Brian Mulroney, is at minimum not optimistic. At the beginning of June, Mulroney shared there are known issues that would be difficult to overcome, including the value of the Canadian dollar.
It doesn’t sound like the people of Quebec City will receive good news regarding expansion come June the 22nd. If anything this fuels the belief that many hockey insiders feel Quebec City will get a team not by expansion, but rather as the result of relocation. If this holds true, the NHL will have to come up with a smart way to present this news to Quebec City and Canadian hockey fans in general. The possibility of the NHL placing a second team in Quebec has to be handled well, as Quebec City has many pieces already in place to house an NHL franchise and another team in Canada would mean a lot to the country as well as the NHL.
However this situation plays out, both Las Vegas and Quebec City are anxiously awaiting any word regarding the NHL expansion decision.
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